Joined frequently by vocalist
Manthe Ribane, ex-
LV member
Gervase Gordon has fused South African and U.K. club styles as
Okzharp, an alter ego responsible for singles on
Hyperdub and Keysound, as well as an album,
Closer Apart (2018), on the former label. The Cape Town-born, London-based
Gordon made his first strides as
Okzharp with 2010 and 2012 mixes hosted by the blog of Rinse FM
DJ Blackdown, and in 2014 another set was presented by The Quietus. They featured tracks classified as kwaito and qgom, two of South Africa's hybrid dance music styles, and reflected
LV's inspirations while pointing toward
Gordon's solo work. In 2015,
Gordon issued Dumela 113, a lean yet vivid
Hyperdub EP that featured Johannesburg native and performance artist
Manthe Ribane as vocalist on three of its four tracks. The next year,
Gordon and
Samrai co-produced
Gated (for Keysound), an EP followed months later by Tell Your Vision, a second four-track EP from
Gordon and
Ribane. The duo continued to record with one another, and in 2018 issued a full-length of discreet and hybridized electronic pop,
Closer Apart, on
Hyperdub. ~ Andy Kellman